1 Chronicles 29:11–12

Context

1 Chronicles 29 presents the final scene of David's life. David gives his own wealth for the Temple in Jerusalem that his son Solomon is to build, and the leaders and the people also offer gifts willingly (1 Chronicles 29:1–9). As the people rejoice, David "blessed the LORD before all the congregation" in a prayer of praise (vv. 10–19). Verses 11–12 form the opening of this prayer. David confesses that greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty; all that is in heaven and earth; the kingdom; riches and honor; and the power to make great and to give strength to all belong to God. In verse 14 he goes on to say, "for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." After this prayer Solomon is made king, and David dies.

Interpretation

• As a statement of God's sovereignty: Many commentators, including those in the Reformed tradition, regard the passage as a summary confession of the sovereignty of God. In particular, the phrase "in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all" is cited as support for the doctrine of providence (God's upholding and governing of the world), according to which royal authority and human status alike are given by God.
• As a teaching on stewardship: Read together with the context of the temple offering and verse 14, the passage teaches that wealth belongs to God from the outset and that human beings are stewards (those entrusted with managing a master's property) who return to God what has been entrusted to them. This reading is common across denominations.
• Within the broader narrative of Chronicles: The prevailing view in biblical scholarship is that Chronicles was written after the Babylonian exile. From this perspective, the book conveys to readers living in an age when the Davidic dynasty had come to an end that God is the true King and that worship and the temple stand at the center of the community.

Questions of Application

Denominations do not differ sharply over the interpretation of this passage. Nevertheless, the following questions are discussed.

• Relationship to the doxology of the Lord's Prayer: The doxology (a short hymn ascribing glory to God) at the end of Matthew 6:13, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever," is absent from the early manuscripts. For this reason several Korean translations place it in brackets or in a marginal note. Its resemblance to 1 Chronicles 29:11 is frequently noted, and some hold that the early church added it to the Lord's Prayer on the model of Old Testament praises such as this one.
• Translation: The word that the Korean Revised Version renders as "sovereignty" (jugwon) means "kingdom" or "realm" in Hebrew. English translations generally render it "kingdom."
• Citing "riches and honor": The first part of verse 12 is sometimes cited as a promise that God grants wealth to believers. Critics of prosperity theology point out that the verse is a confession that God is the owner of wealth and that its context leads directly into giving; reading it as a guarantee of wealth therefore takes it out of context.

In the Korean Church

Because of its setting in the temple offering, the passage is often cited together with verse 14 in prayers during the offering and in sermons for building-fund offerings and church dedication services.

Related Passages

• 1 Chronicles 29:14
• Matthew 6:13
• Psalm 24:1
• Haggai 2:8
• Daniel 2:21